Twin brothers to run Poland as PM set to quit

WARSAW - Poland's conservative Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz said he would resign, paving the way for party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski to take power alongside his twin brother, the president.

The reshuffle, just nine months after the brothers' Law and Justice Party topped general elections, could unsettle financial markets as investors distrust the Kaczynskis' euroscepticism and their suspicion of free market forces.

"I will submit my resignation to President Lech Kaczynski," Prime Minister Marcinkiewicz told a news conference today.

Marcinkiewicz had already offered to step down yesterday, shocking politicians and the public, but his resignation was not accepted by the whole of his party.

Neither Marcinkiewicz nor Kaczynski explained the reason for the changeover, but party sources said the prime minister's growing popularity and his refusal to consult with the party leadership over key cabinet appointments prompted his removal.

At a joint news conference, both stressed the move was part of a well-scripted plan rather than sign of a rift. Kaczynski said the prime minister had accepted an offer to stand as the party's candidate for the influential post of Warsaw mayor.

The conservatives said parliament could confirm Kaczynski as prime minister as soon as next week. That would make Jaroslaw and Lech the world's only twins in power at the same time.

"We have decided to take this risk, because this is a risk when the prime minister and the president are brothers. However, we have come to the conclusion that proposing someone other than me would be a worse solution," Jaroslaw Kaczynski said.

The party's smaller coalition allies, the nationalists and fringe leftists, said they supported the change.

After the 2005 elections, Jaroslaw Kaczynski put forward the little known Marcinkiewicz as prime minister, saying Poles were not ready for twin brothers in power.

Law and Justice officials said the reshuffle would end accusations that Jaroslaw Kaczynski was pulling the strings from behind the scenes while Marcinkiewicz's popularity would help the party win Warsaw in the November local elections.

Many Poles, already shocked when the Kaczynskis formed a coalition with nationalists and leftists instead of moderate conservatives this year, appeared surprised by the latest twist.

"This is a change for the worse," said Jacek Oleksiak, 40, a receptionist. Most Poles approached by a Reuters reporter in Warsaw expressed similar sentiments.

"One Kaczynski was enough, and Marcinkiewicz was a regular guy, a people's prime minister," Oleksiak said.

The conservatives said no major shake-up was planned, but Jaroslaw Kaczynski said he would remove Finance Minister Pawel Wojciechowski, appointed by Marcinkiewicz without consulting his party, irking the twins.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski said he would likely name his candidate for finance minister on Sunday and said he was committed to maintain fiscal discipline and the 30 billion zloty ($15.96 billion) budget deficit limit.

He added he would welcome back Zyta Gilowska, the former finance minister fired by Marcinkiewicz because of allegations she collaborated with communist-era secret police.

"(The change of finance minister) will pose no threat to public finances and the budget deficit limit", Kaczynski told public television.

- REUTERS